Have you talked to financial advisor? Although good financial advisors are rare, you can still try talking to one of them in your local bank, and see what would they recommend. Don't believe in the "invest for the long term" mantra most of them are singing though, instead do your own research and make your own investment decision, After all is YOUR MONEY we are talking about.

I have an appointment next week with bank rep. I wanted to be prepared to talk to them because I am not a financial guru or something. I was thinking of buying some precious metals stocks and I am curios what will they advise me on that. I'll keep you posted.

The majority of these bank advisors are useless. I few years back I was talking to one of them and I asked her a simple question, something like "What was my average yearly percentage gain on mutual fund ABC for the last 2 years?". She blurted something and finally said that she doesn't know how to calculate that.

Do you want to get a financial advice where to put your hard-earned money from such a "professional"?